THE PERCH MAKES THE DIFFERENCE

Male American Kestrel

Just outside of the North unit at Theodore Roosevelt National Park we came across this beautiful male American Kestrel. What really made me happy about this shot was the fact that for the first time I was able to make a photo of this little falcon without a power line in the picture. Most of the time we see them perched on a power line, looking out for prey. There is nothing wrong with that, it serves the bird well, but having the kestrel perched on a branch makes for the better image...

SERIOUS TALK OR JUST CHITCHAT?

Hands down, this is my favorite shot of a Black-tailed Prairie Dog. The little guy moved around with its mouth full of grass, obviously ready to add it to its winter hoard. I was thinking the whole time while following the critter with my lens, come on, stand up, and the prairie dog finally did me the favor. Even with the food in its mouth, it still participated in the Prairie Dog’s communication system. Who knows what they are talking about, but Prairie dogs have a big arsenal of calls and gestures to warn each other or maybe just to chitchat. We love watching these critters…!

NATURE CLICKS #312 - SOUTHERN FLYING SQUIRREL

Nikon D750, Sigma 150mm / f2.8 APO EX DG HSM, SB 800 speed light

It took me 8 1/2 years to make this photo but tonight I had my chance. We didn’t have to go very far, just step outside the house and look at the big Maple tree right in front of it. The last time I had a Flying Squirrel in front of my lens was in June of 2007. It was a picture of the squirrel feeding at one of our bird feeders. Little did I know at this time about wildlife photography…

We knew that they have been around all these years. We still have big oaks, hickory trees, and maples here that provide food for them. Some of our neighbors have seen them more often but Joan and I just didn’t have another encounter since 2007. Flying squirrels are nocturnal, hence the flash light used for this image. I really like the picture because it shows the fold of skin between its forelegs and hind-legs that allow the squirrel to glide through the air up to 80 meters or more, from the top of one tree down to the trunk of another. It flies with its legs outstretched and the skin between its legs is used like a sail or parachute. In comparison to our numerous Eastern Gray Squirrels, the Southern Flying Squirrel is very small (200-255 mm / 7 3/4”-10 1/8”). Look into its big black eyes and you have to admit that its “cuteness factor” deserves 5 stars… 😊

NATURE CLICKS #311 - RED CROSSBILL

Juvenile Red Crossbill

There are little chances that we would see a Red Crossbill in our woods here, simply for the fact that their preferred habitats is coniferous forests. With other words, it was a first sighting for us and we found the birds in the Slim Butte area, located in the grasslands between the Black Hills, South Dakota and Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota. There were plenty of pine trees and we saw a female and a juvenile crossbill feeding on them. Their unique bill shape is perfect for getting the seeds out of the pine cones and make it easy to identify the bird. Red Crossbills show a great deal of variation in bill shape and voice and there is a debate over that this member of the finch family is composed of several different species.

The birds were on a feeding frenzy and in constant movement and the only way to keep up with them was to handhold the camera. Fill flash was used to overcome the harsh contrast and to show the colors.

Female feeding a juvenile

PREPARED FOR THE MOMENT

Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM

The digital age of photography allows us to shoot endless numbers of pictures without making a dent in our wallets. All what it takes is to hit the delete button if something doesn’t work out. Sometimes, and hopefully more often than not, it only takes a few clicks to make the image you have in mind or envisioned, even in wildlife photography. Knowing the biology of a critter, its habits, and natural time schedule will help you to make the click. Being for a few days in the same area, studying the light, and watching every movement in the woods and in the grassland, can lead to the desired shot. 

The photo of this deer was made between two locations where we wanted to shoot landscapes. Attaching the long lens to the camera ahead of time was essential to make the shot just beside the road.

NATURE CLICKS #310 - SHARP-TAILED GROUSE

I always call it a great day if we have a first sighting of a bird or critter. This may not always be the best photographical moment but at least I try to make a documentary shot and hope to work my way up to a better image sometime later. We were told that getting close to some Sharp-tailed Grouse would be not an easy task and we would be very lucky to see them at all. I think it payed back to get up really early in Custer State Park and during this early trip along Wildlife Loop Road, we saw close to a dozen already the first morning. It was good that I fired away immediately, handhold and just supported by leaning myself against the car, because we did not see them at any other time again. Having part of the road in the frame is not very flattering but making “a” shot is always the priority if I see a new species. The Sharp-tailed Grouse gave us about 40 seconds until they took off. This is the best I could get, but hey, it made it already a great day early in the morning… 😊.

TURKEY DAY

Happy Thanksgiving to all friends and readers of my blog here in the United States! I’m sure I didn’t think about this holiday when I made this photo in Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota last month. It may not be Wild Turkey, but a farm raised one, that will be served traditionally for dinner in many families on Thanksgiving. However, I thought the picture is appropriate for todays holiday blog post. 😊

We have turkeys in the woods around our house. In spring, during their mating season, we can hear them calling every morning but I still have not managed to make a decent photo yet. Up in South and North Dakota we had several opportunities to see Wild Turkeys and even to get close to these shy birds. Most of the time you see them down in the grass with a close and very busy looking background. More than a dozen turkeys had just crossed the road and continued foraging on a small ridge before they finally disappeared in the valley behind. It is the far away and out of focus background that makes the big difference between many previous shots and this one, which became my new favorite instantly…

THE BURROS OF CUSTER STATE PARK

One animal in Custer State Park in the Black Hills is hard to miss. Known as the “begging burros”, the herds can be encountered along the Wildlife Loop Road. The burros in the park are feral. They have been introduced by humans to the area and have reverted to a semi-wild state. The donkeys descend from pack animals that were once used for treks to a summit. They often block the road and pander for food from tourists. Because you have to stop anyway, you can’t help but take some pictures of these charismatic relatives of the horse...

BIG BOY IN THE MORNING

Many people come to Custer State Park in the Black Hills for the bison. In the fall the majority of the herd is round up and the bison are kept in a large fenced area. This is done to maintain the health and size of the herd and some animals are sold. We were told that this is the biggest spectacle every year and ten thousands of people come to Custer State Park to see the round up. Today many of the about 250,000 bison that live in other herds across the US and Canada have their origins in the herd from Custer. Some bison still roam free after the round up and we saw mostly solitary bulls or smaller groups.

One morning we came across this big bull and with a photo opportunity like this, it is very easy to get carried away and end up with tons of images on the memory card. After making the usual “safety shots” we really worked this guy with our cameras. The light was good and we waited for some extra gestures a bison bull has in its portfolio. As you can see we were not disappointed… 😊

NATURE CLICKS #309 - MULE DEER BUCK

Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM

Back to the Black Hills and Custer State Park again. Sometimes a photo doesn’t tell the whole story about what was going on at the moment the click was made. And this is OK as long as your picture has a subject and tells the story that is important. Here it is the encounter of a young Mule Deer buck in the early morning sun on a slope of tall grass prairie. This is why I really wanted to go to Custer State Park so badly! It is the place to make pictures like this one. What you don’t see is the presence of a second buck right in front of this one. Within a second I had to make a decision about how to frame the picture. The deer stopped briefly but they were not waiting for a photographer to make up his mind slowly. Shooting them separately led to a better composition and allowed to use the full focal length of 500 mm to get close to the subject. Nobody will miss the second deer in the photo… 😊

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2015 #10

Tundra Swans, Harper's Slough, Mississippi River, Iowa

I like to interrupt my series about our trip to North and South Dakota for a more actual story from right here, the Mississippi Valley. Yesterday, and again today, I drove up north along the mighty Mississippi River in search for migrating water fowl. North of Harper's Ferry, near lock and dam #9, I found what I was looking for. The area is closed to all migratory bird hunting and the birds obviously have figured that out. What I found was overwhelming and I was stunned by the numbers I saw. Several hundred Tundra Swans were present, maybe even close to one thousand. Beside them ten thousands of ducks and coots covered the Mississippi. There was no way to even just guess the numbers. The river is about two miles (3 km) wide at this point and the sanctuary stretches almost all the way across and is about 4 miles long. More than a dozen Bald Eagles were sitting in trees or messed with the ducks. The sound of all the ducks and swans was incredible and the distinctive call of the eagles was music for my ears. With certainty I identified Green-winged Teals, Northern Shovelers, Mallards, Northern Pintails, American Coots, Gadwalls, and a single Wood Duck. There were maybe other species further out on the river but even with my binoculars I couldn’t see them clearly. The Tundra Swans have quite a journey behind them already. Their breeding grounds are high up in Alaska and far northern Canada. They are easy to separate from the Trumpeter Swans, who breed here in Iowa, by a small yellow spot on the base of their black bill.

Ten thousands of ducks during migration

The tip where to look for ducks came actually from a couple local duck hunters, who just came back from a hunt and pulled their boat out of the river in Harper's Ferry. They claimed that we haven’t seen the peak of the migration yet because of the mild weather. After I outed myself as a photographer they were very helpful and gave me a good description how to get to the sanctuary.

Bald Eagle

The photo of the Bald Eagle was probably the easiest to make. The low afternoon sun lit the bird just right. The high contrast between the white of the Tundra Swans and the darker colors of the ducks were quite a challenge. Exposing strictly for the highlights was the only way to go for these documentary shots.

NATURE CLICKS #308 - MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD

Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM

I got the question, did you see a lot of birds up in the Dakotas? Not a lot, remember we were there in October, but we saw some birds we don’t have here in Iowa. I posted recently a photo of the Black-billed Magpie and that was the first time I was able to make a decent picture of this bird. In Custer State Park in the Black Hills we saw several Mountain Bluebirds. Mostly during our photo excursions early in the morning. They like to sit on fence posts or barbed wires and there are quite a few along the Wildlife Loop Road. First there is the fence that surrounds the landing strip of Custer State Park. As soon the sun appears above the mountain ridge the fence on the east side along the road is a safe bet to find Mountain Bluebirds. Further down the road, at the Buffalo Corrals, we were able to watch this attractive bird as well. This is where the second photo was made. In comparison to the Eastern Bluebird, that is very common here in Eastern Iowa, the Mountain Bluebird doesn’t havethe red on its underparts.

Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM

GETTING UP EARLY: ESSENTIAL

Pronghorn, Custer Sate Park, Black Hills, South Dakota

Getting out of the sleeping bag before sunrise is important for seeing some of the wildlife and for maybe getting the photo that makes the difference. Well, the sun raises and sets 365 days during a year around the world and sometimes I think about what it is, that triggers our desire to snap a picture of something that occurs every day. The quality of light during these times plays probably a big role. We maybe just can’t get enough of it.

Being up early beares another advantage, you have the roads, trails, and locations almost for yourself. Not much interferes between you as the photographer and the critter that may become your subject in a good image.

The first photo was made five minutes after the sunrise picture. The Pronghorn buck is still in the shade of the mountains but his ears and horns are backlit by the morning sun. What a great moment!

The last photo was taken the day before and the metadata reveal that the click was made about an hour after sunrise. Still good light, but you can already tell with every minute it became more and more difficult to work an animal like the Pronghorn Antelope with the camera due to the high contrast. As always, a click on each photo opens a larger version on black background for better viewing. I hope you enjoy!

HAWK ON THE HUNT

Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM

Everywhere where prairie dogs are present in the grasslands of the Dakotas there is also a good chance to make a photo of one of the predators that have prairie dogs on their menu. Beside coyotes, black-footed ferrets, or rattle snakes there is probably always a raptor not very far away. We didn’t see any ferrets or snakes but many birds of prey. This one here is probably a Red-tailed Hawk. There are several subspecies of the Red-tailed Hawk and the differences between an adult and immature bird can be quite remarkable. This is the reason why I don’t put this post in my “NATURE CLICKS” series. I’m simple not a hundred percent sure about the identification of this raptor. However, it is always exciting to get close and watch them, and this counts more for me than any photo in the books…

NATURE CLICKS #307 - AMERICAN BISON

Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM

Lets talk about some big animals today. The American Bison is without any doubt the most iconic animal in the American west. They ones roamed the plaines and prairies by the millions but less than 1,000 bisons survived the massive killings in the 19th century by the white men, and today’s herds are the descendants of those few. We read, I believe in one of the information centers, that about 250,000 bisons live toady in private and public herds in North America.

Badlands National Park has a herd and we always found it in the Sage Creek area, not far from the campground. Except for the mating season the older bulls roam more solitary or in small groups together. Because of their beautiful fur and massive appearance they are a great subject for wildlife photography.

Making a photo has to be done with utmost caution. Don’t be fooled by their relatively slow movements. They can move very quickly and will outrun you easily with a speed up to 50 km/h. We have seen videos of bisons throwing people around within the blink of an eye, and every time we have been out west during the last ten years, we saw someone walking right up to a buffalo with a camera or smartphone in their hand. Well, stupidity never dies…

Most of the time we used the car as a blind and the 500 mm focal length of the lens maintains a distance that the critter will accept and not feel threatened. However, the most important thing is to always keep an eye on the animal and watch its behavior.

This photo of a male bison bull, laying in the grass, was made after a long day out in the field, driving around and searching for critters. I love the shot of this older bull, with mud in its face, burs sticking to its fur, and a horn that tells the story of heavy use…